"Speech"
'Thoughts'
["Speech Through Technology"]
|
…
"This wasn't a part of the plan!" Ashley shouted, her eyes darting between the man in the brown cloak and Dante's corpse.
As if in response to the shout, the brown cloak fluttered from the body of the man. The cloak, disappearing before touching the ground, revealed the man.
Icy blue eyes, white, lengthy hair, standing at a height of 6'2, and having an extremely handsome face. This was an exact replica of Dante.
His outfit, however, was extremely different; He wore a long, blue, serpentine-patterned trench coat. Underneath this trench coat was a black, sleeveless vest and a navy ascot. His pants were the same color as his vest. His footwear, though, was that of brown boots. His coat had small details of ornate silver buttons. Each cuff of the coat has five golden button straps.
This man, Dante, knew him well. At least, he knew of him.
Vergil Azaogdesz
The one Dante had long since theorized existed, and which he learned did exist, his supposed elder twin brother.
"Quiet, woman," Vergil said as he stared at Dante's corpse. His eyes unmoving, the katana that had stabbed Dante reappeared in its sheath as if by magic.
He placed the tip of the katana sheath on the ground and held both of his hands over the bottom of the handle.
"You wished to see what Dante really was, did you not?" As Vergil spoke, the tips of his hair were getting within his vision. Sighing, he took his right hand and slicked his hair back. "Watch, and do not complain."
Ashley knew she could only grit her teeth in frustration. She had already put all her eggs into this basket, and there was only waiting for it at this point.
"Eghhh." The sound came from the eldritch horror Dante had named "Mr. Leader."
A knife was currently stuck in its head, both its eyes looking at it with exasperation. It walked up to Vergil, pulling the knife softly from its skull and letting it drop to the ground.
"Old one, Ygallisab."
The tone from Vergil caused "Mr. Leader," now known as Ygallisab, to shiver and bow. Its form quickly changed.
The body of Ygallisab expanded, the mouth on its torso growing and elongating. The now, wide-open lipless mouth with teeth judging out at angles around an already human set of teeth was on full display.
The body of Ygallisab continued to expand like a snake, the warehouse expanding to accommodate the large being.
The top of the head, if you could call it that, was full to the brim of skulls. On the forehead of Ygallisab was a face, similar to the one Dante had seen. However, both eye sockets were bleeding. There were no eyes within the sockets either. Thick, tree branch-like horns grew from the sides of the forehead beside the face. A soft halo of condensed, space-morphed light shone bright above the head of the creature.
Trailing down the body was a long skeletal body reminiscent of a snake's. And on portions of the body, a pair of large human-like arms stuck out.
Ygallisab was large, at least ten humans high at the head, and way larger by body length. Even now, its size created an enormous welt in space so it could fit in the warehouse.
The scariest thing was that its chin was currently pressed into the concrete as it knelt a few feet to the right of Vergil.
A mixture of blood and a black substance leaked from the eyes as a constant small readjustment was made to the end and middle of its long body.
"You were given a task." Vergil did not turn as he spoke. Every word made the Old One in question want to press deeper into the concrete below. "Kill this human. I gave you the choice of any means necessary."
It seemed as though the Old One hung on every word as if it were a matter of life and death.
"Yet, you toyed with him, gave him chance after chance, and ultimately brought him down." Vergil, for exactly two seconds, let his eyes fall on Ygallisab.
"I am not mad that you toyed with him; it was within your power, and you brought him down." At that comment, Ygallisab's seemingly constant recorrections calmed down.
"However—"
And it started back up even worse.
"You lost. In a one-on-one with a human with no powers, you disqualified yourself and lost." Vergil only blinked with disappointment. "You won't disappoint me again. For one who believes themselves closest to the title of 'Great Old One,' you should be better than this."
Ygallisab bowed even deeper, if that was possible.
"You are dismissed."
Without another word being needed, or any time wasted, Ygallisab disappeared from the warehouse like he never existed.
Ashley had watched the whole conversation in stunned silence. It wasn't every day that you saw a god be talked down to by someone you thought was a man. If that thing was scared, saying anything now after she was told to be quiet was akin to suicide.
Vergil watched Dante's corpse with inhuman focus. Ashley, unsure what they should be watching for, only looked on between the two.
The pool of blood beneath Dante was ever-expanding, unnerving Vergil.
Contempt and disappointment slowly grew as he waited. Why wasn't this working? Was there some secret he didn't know about? Some unknown riddle daddy dearest left unsaid?
Then, he felt it.
It was strange because he hadn't heard her singing. It was said that the Sons of Azaogdesz were always accompanied by it, especially during events like these. But this was Dante he was dealing with, so who knew if normal could apply.
The presence grew. It was small, impossibly infinitesimal compared to him, but it was there.
Slowly, the pool of blood beneath Dante's body began to vibrate. In rhythm, the pool of blood began its shaking. Drops of blood rising into the air as the vibrations grew "louder."
Soon, whole lines, small streams of blood began to rise above Dante's head. The blood quickly joined together as Dante's hands gripped the ground once more.
The blood seemed to morph and form. Becoming still as it spread out into place, the blood, all of it, fitted into place to create an eight-handled wheel.
Dante's pupils, once an icy blue, bled. The pupils turned blood red and fractured into three pieces within both eyes.
The wheel that now floated above Dante's head drained of its red color, slowly becoming white. The hole in Dante's chest, the wounds on his hands, and his leg that had been ripped off slowly began regenerating.
Standing, Dante's fully regenerated foot touched the cold concrete.
"Dante?" Ashley murmured as Dante seemed to ignore both of them.
Instead, he walked, like a zombie, and crouched over the broken phone. Reaching his hand out, the phone was slowly absorbed into his body. It disappeared as if it never existed.
"You said you wanted to see the true version of Dante, did you not?" Vergil suddenly spoke behind Ashley, causing her to turn around. "Are you ready for what that entails?"
Ashley swallowed hard. She had done everything to free Dante, but didn't truly know what it would mean. She didn't think it would be like this.
She only nodded and turned back to face the absent-minded Dante.
"Dante, I—"
Ashley would never get to finish. The second Dante heard her voice, he turned around. His foot cracked the concrete he stood on as he launched face-first and hands-first directly at her.
Right as he was about to land, both their positions swapped. Dante kept his momentum, slamming into the ground unharmed. While Ashley looked as if she saw death itself, her legs buckled.
"You could not handle the answers you sought," Vergil said to the downed girl, keeping his eyes focused on Dante. "Doesn't matter, you're no longer needed."
Ashley promptly disappeared. Thus, leaving only Dante and Vergil in the warehouse.
However, Dante didn't move from his crouched position. Even as Vergil studied him from afar, Dante offered no offensive advances or gestures.
It was strange, though awfully like Dante to Vergil.
Flicking his thumb to unsheath his blade, Vergil—movement?
Dante had immediately stood up when Vergil unsheathed his blade. Both brothers, now facing each other, were left unmoving. It seemed Dante had responded to the threat felt from the blade.
Taking these actions into consideration, Vergil put his right hand on the handle of his blade.
Dante immediately ran forward! His hand poised in a claw swipe, Dante slashed at Vergil.
*SQUELSH*
Dante's arm landed hard on the concrete far away. Vergil hadn't even been seen moving. In fact, Vergil was still in the same position he was in before Dante attacked.
And so, Dante rushed again! His other arm poised in a claw swipe, Dante slashed at Vergil!
*SQUELSH*
Again, Dante's other arm landed hard on the concrete far away. Taking no time, Dante lashed out with a kick!
*thud*
Dante's leg came out from under him. Cut without the attacker ever being seen moving. Dante quickly tried to maintain balance by hopping, moving around an unmoving Vergil.
Jumping into the air, Dante lashed out with his last limb and—
*THUD*
Dante had lost his last limb, falling to the ground helplessly in a pool of his own blood.
This was disappointing to Vergil. A waste of time. It was even more disgusting to him that a limbless Dante was trying to flip over like a stuck turtle so that he could still attack him.
Turning away, Vergil took his hand off his blade. It wasn't even worth coming here to him. Dante seemed like nothing but a dud.
Vergil began his walk—
*CLANG*
—And paused.
Vergil's eyes squinted. Slowly turning his head and body to the right, he saw Dante.
Fully healed.
His limbs no longer detached from his body.
Vergil looked at Dante, the wheel, and then back to Dante.
"You did something just now." The tone became more intense as Vergil spoke, especially when noticing that Dante seemed to be smiling. Or was that Vergil's imagination?
Again.
Dante was slightly faster than before, but the fight ended the same way. Nothing was done any differently.
Though Vergil stared a little longer, he eventually realized that what he saw must have been a fluke.
Walking away once more—
*CLANG*
—Ok, not a fluke?
Vergil turned around once more. Displeasure was written across his face as he looked at Dante.
Dante now had scales?
He had grown a slight amount of scales since the last turn around.
"Enough of this." Vergil had ended up slicing Dante's limbs as before, and then gone about cutting him in half.
"This time, you won't be—"
*CLANG*
He had witnessed it this time. The white eight-handled wheel above Dante's head had turned. The second it did so, Dante had been fully healed.
But this time, he was different. The slight amount of red scales Vergil had witnessed had spread out more. Covering the first hole in his chest where Vergil had first stabbed, his arms, his legs, and some portions of his face.
"What form of power is this?" The whisper from Vergil's own mouth made him question what he was seeing.
He had battled men.
He had battled spawn.
He had battled gods.
Never once had he seen what he was seeing right now.
Again.
The two fought. Without being seen by Dante, the difference in speed too great, Dante was cut down once more.
This time, Vergil had been extra thorough. Cutting off all of Dante's limbs, cutting him in half, and separating his head from his shoulders.
This time, Dante would stay down—
*CLANG*
Dante was much different this time. The scales that grew on his body took over nearly everything besides his face. He grew a large crocodilian-like tail with mutated osteoderms.
Even through this, there was something that irritated Vergil to no end. Despite the power difference between them, Dante was cut down several times, but the overall course of this battle wasn't affected.
Was Dante smiling? Vergil couldn't be certain, but something was telling him that Dante was.
Dante took another step forward, and for the first time in this battle, Vergil realized, Dante had never taken a step back.
Dante rushed in!
Vergil quickly put his hand on his blade's handle once more.
Dante's body exploded into blood and gore, and Vergil quickly tried to fully pull out his blade and stabbed Dante through the skull.
Right as the sword was about to pierce—
*CLANG*
—The eight-handled wheel turned. Dante had fully reformed, different, yet the same, and dodged the attack.
Dante quickly went in for a punch, only for Vergil to jump backwards! However, Dante kept up the attack! Jumping up after Vergil, Dante pulled his fist back and let it fly!
Vergil only angled the blade toward Dante's fist, letting Dante do all the work. The blade easily cut through Dante's defenses, splitting his fist and arm down the middle with ease.
Immediately, Vergil flicked the blade to the side, cutting off half of Dante's first hand and cutting off his other hand completely.
The second they touched the ground, Dante rushed in, and Vergil put his blade back in its sheath.
Getting into a lower stance, putting his hand on his blade's handle, Vergil disappeared.
No, he didn't disappear; he only moved behind Dante.
*clink*
Vergil sheathed his blade.
And in the next instant, Dante exploded into blood.
There was only blood and the severed arms Vergil had cut off previously.
The battle was over! No more of that incessant—
*CLANG*
Dante had reformed. Fully whole once more.
This time, he was bigger. Not bigger in height alone, but bigger in everything. He was more muscular, taller, and had better proportions for his scales and tail.
His clothes, barely holding together, didn't seem to bother him as he rushed in faster than before!
Because of the new size difference, the way Dante used all of his speed, and his plan of attack, Dante ended up launching himself at Vergil.
Within Dante's vision, Vergil disappeared.
Reappearing to the right of Dante, Vergil calmly lifted his leg.
*BANG*
Dante's body crumpled inward as he flew into the warehouse ceiling. He quickly broke through the ceiling and began flipping helplessly as he flew higher.
His ribs and internal organs had been ruptured. So, when he projectile vomited his organs, it was a wonder that he hadn't died yet.
Right as he reached the apex of his height and began falling, his body began healing fast enough to be visible to the human eye and—
*BANG*
Another hit came from an unseen direction, launching a crumpled Dante across the sky.
If this continued, he was going—
*CLANG*
—to be fine. The eight-handled wheel turned once more, a heavy clanging sound ringing out as it did.
Dante's body, fully healed, began trying to move, but it failed as it moved at extreme speeds through the air.
Dante had changed once more. His body was wrapped in scales, clothes no longer needed as his genitalia had retreated into his body for added protection.
*CRASH*
Dante's body slammed heavily into the side of a skyscraper. Glass dug into his skin, people turned to blood and gore, and flames came alive within the building due to exploding machinery.
However, Dante immediately stopped his momentum. Claws digging deep into the building as he surveyed the area.
There was no one alive on this floor. He could hear the screams of people above and below, but none of it mattered.
Walking around, Dante looked but found no sign of Vergil within where he had landed. After a few seconds, he paused.
*CLANG*
And immediately punched towards the ground in front of him. Vergil had peeked into that exact position for what could be seen as a nanosecond before disappearing.
The floor broke underneath Dante. The one in question looked up as Vergil descended upon him.
Both individuals fought, breaking through layer after layer of the building.
*BOOM*
An explosion took place, and Dante rocketed from that skyscraper to the next. His body slammed against the glass, but refused to go further. From the fight, only one of the participants looked damaged.
Vergil appeared in front of Dante, unmoving in mid-air. Reeling his fist back in an uppercut, Vergil sent Dante flying upward through the glass of the skyscraper.
*CLANG*
The heavy turn of the wheel sounded out once more. However, Vergil didn't seem to care as Dante was promptly spiked downward into a building.
Breaking through floor after floor, Dante sat. Blood and gore clung not only to him, but also to the entire destroyed area in which he now sat. From Dante's eyes, white stalks similar to tree branches came out.
They were covered in blood, small, and overall looked unfinished. The blood on them quickly drained as feathers began growing on the stalks.
This fight was far from over.
…
Was this my hell? I had no idea. This was the first time I died, so shouldn't I be meeting God or something?
I was currently falling, falling ever so slowly into this black void of nothing. Above me was a massive pile of pure light. It seemed so close, so far, but I also seemed to be getting farther from it.
I reflected on the time I spent in this world, the constant fighting, constant vigilance, and constant loneliness. I had Malo, but couldn't participate in anything that made life, modern or not, enjoyable.
I've had things tear at my psyche, make me bleed more than I had any right to, and destroy the tiniest bit of safety I had. Living in this world, if you could call it that, was a constant struggle that would make the modern man insane.
I had been feeling peaceful at the time of my death, even now I feel it, but this peacefulness was giving way to rage. A slow-burning rage. The tears welling up behind my eyes, the only thing that reminded me of my still conscious self, calmed me down.
The way I died? Bullshit.
I recalled it all in perfect clarity, down to the last word Malo said to me. Every time I re-reviewed my death, I grew angrier.
None of that should've even happened! This was bullshit! What was even Vergil's reason for killing me? Why'd he even show up?!
I did everything correctly, followed the path to the letter, and yet it was cosmic undo bullshit that got me!
I could feel myself about to absolutely—TWEAK! My fingers twitched, my brain replaying my failures and wins in an insanity driven attempt to see if I could survive, and Malo's ending words drew me over the edge.
That was some high-tier, grade S, cosmic bullshit!
As I ranted to myself inside, something began changing in me. It began small, but soon the surrounding darkness around me became clearer.
The feeling of what was around my body grew to the point that I could tell something was off. I was falling, right? Shouldn't I have reached the bottom by now?
But, no. Something was telling me something was pulling on me. Getting annoyed by dying, waking, and being forced to do something again, I looked down at the bastard who was pulling my leg.
The hell?!
It was a tendril.
Pulling me further into the darkness, the tendril noticed me noticing it and began pulling harder.
"Ayo! Get off me!" I shouted as I tried to remove the thing from its grasp on my lower leg.
Looking further down, my heart skipped a beat. Absolute dread had kicked in and was in full effect. What I saw could only be described as Lovecraftian-monster horrific.
It was massive, a soft red glow illuminating it far, far below me. It was like being a human and standing ten kilometers away from the sun. Its form, in the shape of a sphere, though I could see many moving parts trying to shape into something on its surface.
As any rational person would do, I did the most obvious thing. I fought that goddamn tendril like it was my nemesis!
It needed to let me go!
Trying to pull it off didn't work, so I punched. Punching didn't work, so I bit! Bitting didn't work, so I tore!
Nothing seemed to be working on this thing's godlike grip on my leg. So why not talk?
"Listen, listen! Let me go, you don't need me." I tried to gently slide into a friendly conversation. "I'm telling you, let's talk this out. I'm sure we can come to a reasonable conclusion about what to do at this—fuck it, LET ME GO!"
Talking like a calm and reasonable person had failed. I was like a man possessed, being pulled into the inescapable vortex of death.
I was not dying again! My soul will not be snatched today!
Then I felt it.
The tendril paused. I paused.
Turning around. A soft, crimson glow, almost scarlet, radiated.
Around twelve feet away, a crimson crown glowed in the darkness. It slowly floated toward me.
I could feel the tendril recoil as it got closer. That told me all I needed to know. This crown, whatever it was, had the eldritch god-looking thing scared. That means I should treat it at the same level of care.
As it slowly floated closer, I began thinking. This thing was definitely harmful, no matter which direction I looked at it.
Question one: Why did it only show up now?
It must've been here the entire time if it could just casually appear without the thing below trying to get out of dodge earlier. It may be trying to prey on my ignorance.
Question two: Why is it trying to float onto my head?
It's a crown, with a deep crimson color. A very evil-looking crown. Made from what looks like a red marble exterior, with small, soft-looking crown tips.
Both my momma and I could confirm this thing is evil. So how do I solve it?
"I don't know who you think I am," I said as I clenched my fist and pulled back my arm. The crown was getting closer as I did so. "But whatever destiny this crown is about to force on me, I reject it!"
The crown, now within striking distance, got what was coming to it. A hard right!
*SHATTER*
The crimson crown shattered into nine differently sized pieces. Eight of the pieces flew outward at what could be considered light speeds, leaving a straight trail of crimson behind.
The singular crown piece that didn't zoom away was on the smaller side compared to all of the pieces. It didn't try to put itself on my head. Instead, it floated in the empty void.
Looking at the small piece of the crown. I didn't touch it, but I did try looking through it. To me, it was like a mirror to another world.
The darkness in the void I was in wasn't even the thing being captured. Where was this place?
As I looked around, I found a deeper shade of crimson than the rest. It was weirdly shaped, awfully large, and—
An eye opened to look at me.
I reeled my head back. "I think I was about to find out," I said with my hand over my heart.
My head, now looking directly at the light, made me realize something. The light was exactly like this crown piece! I could see through it like a mirror into another world.
It was a first-person view, but I could see glimpses of Vergil. Destruction, blood, and the mutilation of "myself."
While I was here, my body was fighting. That meant I was still alive, correct? Doesn't matter.
"Hey!" I screamed toward the thing that had been trying to pull me below. "You don't seem to like this crown, or that guy, judging by how poorly you seem to be operating my body."
I had seen this type of takeover before. It was pulling my consciousness into itself so it could take my body.
"But, let me tell it to you like this! I'm really angry right now, so you have two options!" I grabbed the tendril that had rudely tried pulling me. It flailed and wriggled in my grasp. "You either join me in killing that guy, because I know you'd never be able to. Or! I kill you, then him! What's your choice?!"
With the singular crown piece, this thing still wouldn't try me. So, it either had to conform or I'd put this bitch on and see what happens!
Everything became still for a moment. The tendril even stopped moving.
After a few seconds, I felt a massive amount of movement rushing toward my location.
Looking down, I saw an absolute wall of flesh. All of it just tendrils, but they packed together so tightly they seemed like a single being. It was an indescribable mass. I couldn't put it into words.
The new floor of tendrils met my feet and kept rising. Pushing me upward as it did so, I turned my attention upward.
I had no idea what would happen when I touched the light, nor the total picture of what was going on, but one thing was certain: when I got to Vergil, I was going to put belt to ass to him like his mother never did!
…
When I awoke, the world looked different. Feeling for my eyes, all I felt were feathers. Instinctively, I knew each feather was a different eye for a different perspective of vision.
Infrared, enhanced night vision, microscopic vision, lightless vision, future sight, electromagnetic vision, gravity vision, the ability to see sound waves as an entire world of its own, and so on.
I could see the combat build the thing that tried to take over my body was trying to run. However, future sight didn't work for some reason.
And I could feel something else pulling at me in my mind.
([Unable to perceive target, increase the dimensional scaling of the brain?])
(|
My instincts were telling me two separate things in two separate voices.
'One: Do not under any circumstances increase/change the dimensionality of my brain nor the chemical makeup.'
([Understood. Directive?])
'Focus on increasing the size of my brain. Increase and enhance what you can.'
([Understood. Making changes to the skull, brain, and processing of information.)]
'Two: What can you adapt to?'
(|
'But you can't adapt to whatever that blade is doing to my body?' This was concerning. My ability was revealed to me.
I had the power to adapt to anything and everything. Not the ability to adapt to all phenomena. Anything and everything.
And even with this ability, I couldn't get past Vergil's blade? I needed a new plan.
'What is the issue you are running into?'
(|
That was something. I physically cannot adapt within the universe to Vergil's slashes. But what was a way through this?
I can't stop the slashes at all. They break through my body easily, no matter what I do. I guess, this is the reason that thing went for a future sight combat build.
After thinking for less than a second, I found my answer. At least, I thought it could be the answer.
'Do not adapt to stop the slash. Stall every slash for as long as possible. Allow the concept to be true, but also delayed.'
(|
Now that all of that was taken care of. I was sure as hell going to try and put Vergil into the dirt.
*click*
*CLANG*
…
On top of a broken highway, cars were overturned, people were lying strewn about like rags, and Dante was standing.
The red glow he exhibited had completely disappeared, and Dante looked at the world with newfound clarity. Suddenly, the back of his head began expanding—
*CLANG*
The transformation that was taking place was immediately over. Dante now stood at ten feet tall, his eyes replaced by four white wings. Red scales overtook his entire body. His mouth became more angular, and a long tail hung behind him. The large, white, eight-handled wheel was still resting above his head.
Dante's head, which was previously human, now had a long tail-like thing connected to the back of his head.
Immediately, Dante's head began whipping around as if he were trying to track a ghost.
*CLANG*
Dante pulled his fist back and launched it to the left of him. Vergil immediately appeared in that position as the fist was two inches from his face.
Both of Dante's arms turned to blood mist from the elbows down. Dante recoiled while Vergil stood still.
As both of Dante's arms began regenerating, he only needed ten seconds to complete his recovery. He ran forward.
However, he didn't make it far.
A force slammed into him, sending him flying high into the air. Dante seemed undisturbed by this and opened his mouth to suck in as much air as possible.
"RRAGGGHHHH!!>|
A heavy blast of air pressure escaped his mouth, directed toward Vergil.
The blast quickly blasted away the portion of the highway Vergil had been standing on, but the damage done to him was still zero.
By this point, even an outsider could see Vergil was intrigued by this power. Though he couldn't tell what it was, he wanted to experiment.
Dante had promptly disappeared from his position.
*SPLASH*
Being dunked into a dark, open body of water, Dante thrashed about. He seemed to be trying to swim and breathe, gills actively grew—
*CLANG*
Dante now had gills. His tail powered his now grandmaster-level swimming, and he controlled a quick upward movement.
Vergil watched all these changes from space. He had chosen a random, fully aquatic world with different levels of gravity and all, and yet Dante had changed. He had.. adapted.
Vergil's eyes widened slightly for only an instant.
Dante appeared in front of him, unable to control himself in the depths of space.
There was no reason for Vergil to say what he was about to do, nor explain himself, especially while being in a vacuum. He only held his hand forward.
Dante's mouth stretched wide into a silent scream. He clawed at his own body, trying to move, trying to fight, but he could do none of it.
The red color of his scales slowly began to change. His entire body was practically entirely bleached pure white by radiation. It was a full burst from a slight amount that a star would output.
Dante's body melted and reformed over and over. He seemed to be trying to repair his DNA from the way his body was constantly growing and changing.
The wheel above his head spun over and over again, no sound carrying over.
By the time Vergil had seen enough, Dante was still the same height, but he no longer had any remnants of humanity to him.
Dante's body was now parchment-paper white. He had gone from human to lizard. The ten-foot-tall and even bigger in length lizard had curled up into itself.
It was a pitiful sight. This encounter was over.
Right as Vergil was going to remove Dante, Dante's lizard body began to change. From its back grew small notches.
With a silent turn of the wheel above his head, Dante sprang forward. Flying through the vacuum of space as if it were air, Dante threw a claw directly into Vergil.
Vergil, of course, moved out of the way. But now he had seen it, Dante had grown wings out of his back.
These large wings would never be enough to create enough lift for Dante, but because of the special effects they apply, his body was now able to move without landing.
Without so much as blinking, Dante had promptly fallen into a large skyscraper. Instead of trying to reroute his path, he barreled through and came out the other side.
*RRRRRR—RRAAEEÆÆÆÆ*
Dante roared fully inhuman as he took off into the air.
As he moved faster and faster, trying to predict where Vergil would appear next, his left wing was suddenly cut.
Then his other wing, then his arms, then his legs, then his head. This wasn't like any of the other times he was cut. Vergil was finally trying to end him completely.
And Dante felt it. Each blood cell, each scrape of DNA, each bit that could replicate, Vergil spared no expense.
Finally, there was only information left. The information in the universe that Dante exists, cut. The information that Dante was born, cut. The information that Dante was thought of, cut.
Dante Azaogdesz didn't exist.
Dante Azaogdesz never existed—
|
.
.
.
.
|
*CLANG*
Dante Azaogdesz existed.
Dante Azaogdesz was still alive.
From nothing, the information repaired itself. The wheel had turned.
From that information, Dante rebuilt himself. The wheel still turned.
From that blood, Dante remade himself. The wheel was pleased.
Space beside Vergil tore and broke. A large hand ripped itself into our dimension once more. From the conceptual basis of information, he arose once more.
And Vergil was understandably pissed.
This ability Dante had, one that could rival his own, was an ability worthy of a Son of Azaogdesz.
Dante came from the tear in dimensions with his claw poised to strike.
"Very well then, little brother. I suppose I can play one last game." As soon as he finished speaking, Vergil took a step back mid-air and got into a lower stance. His hand on his blade's handle, Vergil let the little power this vessel could manage loose.
| The city they were in had fractured. Buildings cut at odd, yet perfect angles, nobody within the city moved. Then again, another cut.
Not even Dante was spared. Fracture after fracture after fracture, it was as if reality couldn't consider time.
Then, all at once, buildings rose from the ground and were cut into perfect one-centimeter by one-centimeter cubes. The same happened to the streets, the trees, the people, the animals, and even Dante.
*CLANG*
However, the wheel seemed unwilling to lose!
Noticing that it wasn't enough, Vergil slammed Dante into the ground with an axe kick. The ground ruptured and cracked. Pieces and full cubes flying hundreds, if not thousands, of meters away.
Dante landed stomach-first on the ground, his entire body splattered against the ground. He tried getting up, but as he did, he noticed Vergil's fist pulled back in front of him.
"Rest in peace."
It wasn't said to Dante out of love or care. It was as if Vergil was referring to something he couldn't see.
*CRUSH*
Dante's head was quickly crushed by Vergil's fist. His brain, organs, skull, and blood splattered across the ground.
And much to Vergil's surprise, Dante was trying to reform himself. However, the white eight-handled wheel had fallen from his head and clattered to the ground.
This encounter, as it couldn't even be called a battle, was over.
…
*GASP*
"I'm alive?" I said as I stared up at the ceiling of my own home.
Feeling myself, my clothes were fine, I was fine, but my phone, lying beside me, was still broken. I felt a deep pit in my heart as I saw it.
For a while, I didn't do anything. I couldn't help it. I felt hollow. I didn't win, the memories still fresh in my head. Vergil had kept me alive, for what? Pity? Or maybe he wanted me to suffer with these feelings? I didn't know.
I reviewed the fight, and I got played with. The city was destroyed, I didn't care about casualties, and now I feel like shit. Dante doesn't kill innocent people; eldritch creatures do, but right now, I felt I had violated that.
I had even tried escaping, but his powers just pulled me back. It was as if he could edit reality to his liking.
Wait. Vergil had the power to undo things? Time shenanigans or something? He could've undid all the damage I did. I didn't care for the destruction he caused, as he wasn't me.
I needed to find out, though. Sitting up—
"What the?" I slowly stood up. A screen in my face. "Is this what they'd call a system?"
An old, withered scroll stood before me. Reaching out, I tried to touch it—
"UUUURGGHGGHH!!" I was quickly dragged downward by chains! They bound my arms and legs. The more I fought, the more they tightened!
My thoughts ran with ideas. I went through all the information I knew about things that bound people. Or gods?
I came to one conclusion.
This wasn't a system!
It was a seal!
So why the hell does it look like the Devil May Cry Five shop?!
…
(A/N: I've tried something new. I wanted to make this chapter more vague. Gods within the story won't have their POVs shown, so you'll have to make your own inference about their character and thoughts. Remember, Dante can be wrong, and the Third-POV can lie to you.
As always, I ask that you let me cook.
Shout out to my oldest and greatest day one supporter, Apathy_Personified. I still see you, and I still value your time.)